Pellegrini: 'City have best squad in Premier League'

Manuel Pellegrini has fired a warning to Manchester City's title rivals by declaring he has the best squad in the Premier League.

Since arriving from Malaga, Pellegrini has spent around £90 million on Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic as he has improved a group who finished second in the league and were runners-up in the FA Cup under his predecessor, Roberto Mancini.

"I think we have the best squad in England. We bought four important players, we already had a very good team and with these four players I think we improved a lot," Pellegrini said at the club's awards night.

"We have been working very hard in pre-season, and we have another nine days before we start the Premier League. We hope that from the first match against Newcastle at home we will start winning, and we will try to bring another trophy here."

Captain Vincent Kompany believes City are well-stocked in their bid to win silverware this season and feels the squad is united and determined to make up for their disappointments last year.

He added: "I think every single player here is buying into the culture of this club. The sky is the limit. We are working so hard for us to achieve everything.

"We are dying to come back and start this season - we've got so much to prove and we're all looking forward to it. We've got a great team; I really think that at the end of this year we are going to achieve what we are setting out to with our targets."

Pablo Zabaleta was presented with City's Player of the Year award at the evening, while Matija Nastasic won the young player prize and Sergio Aguero picked up the trophy for scoring the best goal, in the 2-2 draw with Liverpool.